Old Friends, Fruit and Flower
by ncfan
Summary: She recognized them both immediately.


I own nothing.

* * *

Melian had dwelled long in Beleriand, dwelled long with the Edhil beneath the stars. Hundreds of years it had been since she had left the gardens of Lórien and last laid eyes on Aman. After such a long time, she might have been forgiven if her memory had faded, but she recognized them both immediately.

When the endless canvas of the stars was broken by first the pale orb, then the bright one that obliterated all other forms of light, many of the Edhil had panicked. There were many, all too many, who believed that they were the harbingers of calamity, that they signaled the end of the world itself. It had taken Melian and Thingol a great deal of effort to calm their subjects down. At least Lúthien hadn't been caught up in that hysteria, though Melian found it a bit odd that her daughter seemed to have been expected them, for when they arrived she greeted them both as old friends.

Once the furor died down, the scholars and loremasters of Menegroth set about to the task of giving the orbs names. They bandied about several speculative names, but it was ultimately a farmer, who fell into convulsions and had a vision, who assigned to the orbs the names that would become most commonplace among the Sindar.

The pale silvery-white orb who had risen first and ruled over the domain known as 'night' was called Ithil. The fiery yellow orb who had risen second and ruled over the domain of 'day' was called Anor.

Thingol himself did not recognize them. Melian had brought him out to a glade one morning, when Anor was rising but Ithil was still present in the sky, hoping he would recognize them for what they were. It seemed inconceivable to her that he would not. But her husband just looked up at the sky and shook his head. _No, I do not see what you are trying to tell me, Melian. They are just orbs._

She stared at him, caught between frustration and sadness. _No, my love, they are not just orbs._

They were not just orbs.

In Ithil, she saw a flower of the Silver Tree, and in Anor, a fruit of the Golden Tree. These orbs were imbued with the light of Aman's two great Trees. Melian was not sure why they had been set in the sky over Beleriand and, judging from their steady westward passage as day and night wore on, over Aman as well. The Valar had been content to have Aman lit by the Trees, and had been equally content to leave Ennor lit only by stars up until now, since the destruction of Illuin and Ormal so long ago.

And there was more Melian did not understand. Melkor was again making war upon Ennor, his will set to sicken and slay all that was green and good, his will set to conquest. Why had the Valar released him from his imprisonment? Why had they allowed him to run wild and unconstrained? Why would they do that? Melian hoped, at least, that the rising of Ithil and Anor had nothing to do with Melkor returning to his old haunts.

They were not just orbs. They were pieces of a home she had left long ago. And though Melian knew that no one else could see what she saw, she recognized the two who steered the orbs across the sky.

_My old friends, I see you up there in the sky. Can you see me down here? Do you know, at last, what has become of Melian, once called Melyanna, handmaiden of Estë and Vána? Do you hear my thoughts and see my heart from so far away?_

Melian stared into the sky, and remembered them well.

Arien had tended Vána's golden flowers alongside Melian, though she was one of Varda's Maiar and not a handmaiden of Vána. Arien had been one of the few fire spirits who had not defected to Melkor's side when he first rebelled, and there were times, Melian suspected, when she missed her 'brothers' and 'sisters.' She shined with dazzling inner light, and her voice had the undertones of burning flames. She tended to the Golden Tree with joy, seeing it as akin to her own nature.

Tilion was one of Oromë's hunters. He was adventurous and curious, roaming far and wide by himself. He was a great lover of silver, and could oftentimes be found basking beneath the Silver Tree in its glory.

Arien and Tilion had been lovers in Aman, and perhaps that was the reason that they both chose to steer the vessels imbued with the Trees' essence across the sky, to avoid separation. They had chosen the same fate, and would not be parted.

When the time came that Anor and Ithil were both in the sky at the same time, Melian went to a place where the trees were thin and she could see them both, unobstructed. She wondered about Aman, about what had happened since she left. And, perhaps, just a little bit, she longed for the home she had left behind.

* * *

Edhil—Elves (singular: Edhel) (Sindarin)  
Ithil—the Sindarin name for the Moon  
Anor—the Sindarin name for the Sun  
Ennor—Middle-Earth (Sindarin)  
Illuin and Ormal—The lamps that lit Middle-Earth, that were destroyed by Melkor


End file.
